Well? What are you waiting for?

This week, the girls take on the Jena Six. If you don't know what that is, read a newspaper. Or, like, Wikipedia or something.

Anyway, after a wonderfully expressive photo shoot...

...Salt debriefs Pep on the trouble that's going down in Jena, Louisiana. The very, very short version is that a group of white students at the local high school targeted blacks by hanging nooses from a tree that was considered a "white tree" in the schoolyard (i.e. blacks were not "welcome" near the tree). Racial tensions escalated and peaked at a fist fight in which black students beat up a white student. For beating up a white kid, the six black kids were charged with attempted murder as adults. You don't even need to watch Judge Judy to understand how unjust this is: it seems that the white kid's racism was an extension of the institutionalized racism of the area.

Salt cries when telling Pep the story, because she feels for the parents of the Jena Six. She announces that she's going to attend a rally in support of the Six, and Pep decides to join her.

They rent a bus and it's totally a family affair.

At a pit stop for food, Salt's reminded of her early days on the road.

She explains that the meal is reminiscent of way back when, except instead of kids, relatives and husbands, she and Pep would be eating with Kid 'n Play and Heavy D and the Fat Boys. She went on a world tour and all she got was this loving, stable family. Not such a bad trade-off, eh?

After the meal, Pep is nowhere to be found. The restaurant's owner then pulls into the parking lot because he evidently drove Pepa to a liquor store. Salt approaches the car and pretends that she's going to beat him up for taking Pep out and making the bus wait.

Ah, the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. lives on. Do you see how that guy is totally flinching?

Back on the bus, Salt and Pep explain exactly why they're going to Louisiana to their youngest kids.

They are so grave! I mean, fair enough, but they're almost eerily well-behaved and understanding.

The next day, they near Jena and Pep is, of course, running late. We hear her calling out from the bathroom that she's so sweaty, she can't put her pants on. What does that mean, and do I even want to know?

After some quiet time with a towel, though, things work out.

The first thing Salt and Pepa do when they're in Jena is meet with relatives of the Six. Among the first thing they're asked? "Where's Spinderella?" Ha! No matter how serious the situation at hand, everyone wants to know where Spinderella is.

The answer, as usual is: not there.

This episode is awesome because it really gives you a full picture of the impact and implications of the Jena Six incident. Hearing from the families is fascinating -- they're basically still living in segregation and the fact that they're standing up to fight the town's institutionalized racism is not sitting well with the whites. "We're not just going to hand over our kids to the system," says one parent. The cause only seems more noble by the second.

The parents take Salt, Pepa and their crew to see the high school that gave birth to the ordeal.

After being joined by Salt's mom...

...the group is ready for the march. Pulling up to it, Salt says, "This is history and we are here."

It sure looks that way. Al Sharpton speaks...

...but maybe the most eloquent statement comes from Pep, who says, "They thought it was trouble with six black kids. Now there's 30,000 black kids."

Just awesome.

At the end of the day, Salt-and-Pepa are interviewed by a local news station. Salt reports that her son came up to her during the march and told her, "I'm black and I am proud." She reasons that he learned something that day. That's enough to make the entire trip worthwhile.

Back on the bus, Salt and Pep reflect on meeting with the Jena Six parents, and their request that S-N-P perform "Push It," which if you'll remember from the first episode, Salt isn't so comfortable with. She mocks her old dance moves...

...and then they rewrite "Push It" to pertain to the protest. The result? "Justice Feels Good," which everyone on the bus performs.

The moral of the story is two-fold: 1) Racism is very much alive and needs to be protested and 2) There is a Salt-N-Pepa song that can be rewritten for every occasion. Just try to prove me wrong!

Related content
The Salt-N-Pepa Show page

Comments

[KiminJena]

Rick,
I have a been a HUGE fan of yours forever. Can I say that I heart Winston? Your original blog and now your VH1 blog are among my addictions. :-)

I live in Jena, my daughter attends the high school here and was witness to the events prior to the "Jena 6" and to the events involving the "Jena 6". Please don't believe everything the media has put forth regarding these young men or the situation here in Jena.

The young men who have become known as the Jena 6 are not the upstanding youths they have been portrayed to be by the media. They are not civil rights heroes. They are 6 young men who took it upon themselves to beat another human being into unconsiousness. There is no justification for their actions. Most of the young men who have become known as the Jena 6 had a history violence. Michael Bell's history has come to light in recent months. He was on probation at the time of the beating for a previous assault conviction and had been ajudicated of two other convictions as well.

That being said, it was a wonderous sight to see 15- 20,000 people marching through the streets of my home town. Americans at their best. I was proud that so many people could care about an issue so much. I am also proud of our town's response that day. Jena opened it's arms to the marchers that day. There were no incidents of violence. I personally know people who lived along the marching route who opened their homes to marchers to use the bathroom and get water.

I am however, of the opinion that the people who came to Jena were gravely misinformed regarding the facts of this case and had they known the truth, they would have chose to stay home that day.

Salt and Pep, I'm glad you and your families came to our little town. I just wish you hadn't been lied to.

[KiminJena]

RICH (not Rick!),
Sorry I'm stupid and cannot type!
Kim

[Soulfully1]

Hello Kim,

I have read your comment and no one has refuted the fact that these young men may or may not have dealings with the law in the past.

The point and purpose of the march was to make certain the time fits the crime...no one promoted violence and/or said these young men where justified in their action however 20 years to life for a fight is a BIT extreme and that was the purpose and forming on the march.

To let the powers that be we are not going to tolerate the grave thought of sentencing these young men to 20 years to life because they are black in addition the parties who started the riot and/or chain of events and carried GUNS on the school premises walk away FREE AS A JAY-BIRD!!

That was the purpose behind the march.

Respectfully,
Soulfully1

[KiminJena]

Soulfully1,

I totally agree with the reasons why y'all came. It's just that the truth was so far from what the media reported. I have completely lost all faith in the news. I will never again take at face value anything I see on the nightly news, local or national.

The idiots that hung the nooses in the tree were given much more punishment than what was reported. There was a tree in the square, but it wasn't a "white tree". The kids all mingled underneath it freely. It was planted in 1986, not prior to desegregation as was reported. The inaccuracies regarding this story are too numerous to list here.

As for the young men having dealings with the law, they weren't minor infractions. Michael Bell's charges that he was on probabtion for involved him beating a young teenage black girl. As far as I know, Bryant Purvis is the only young man that didn't have prior issues with the law.

I'm not sure what riot you're referring to. There was no riot. The six young men had attempted to start a fight with two previous students in the lobby of the gymnasium and when they were unsuccessful they postioned themselves against a retaining wall outside the gym and one of them hit Justin Barker as he walked by, knocking him unconsious. They then proceded to stomp and kick him while he was unconscious. They continued to beat him even after another student threw himself over Justin's unconscious body to shield him from the continued barrage of kicks and stomps. They continued to beat him until staff intervened and stopped them. Had that student not been there and the staff been slower to respond Justin Barker may well be dead. That fact has gotten lost in the media hype.
This was NOT a schoolyard fight. It was an attack, a premeditated attack by six young men on ONE lone young man. Justin Barker never had a chance to defend himself because he was completely unconscious after the first blow had been struck. A fight requires that both parties participate. Justin Barker was defenseless against the stomping and kicking of six young men who are as big as most grown men. I cannot imagine the thought process that would lead one to think that stomping someone repeatedly in the head and continually kicking another human being is in any way acceptable behavior.

It saddens me that 15,000 people were taken in by the lies and truly believe that this was just a minor schoolyard incident and that these young men were charged simply because they were black. It simply isn't so.

[Mara]

kiminjenna,

even if what you say is true, then how do you explain the nooses white people where hanging on the tree and then from the back of there pick-up truck ALONG WITH THE CONFEDERATE FLAG?? i saw that for myself...that was no propaganda.

i think you missed the point of the march, and need to open your eyes to not only jenna, but the WORLD.

RACISM IS ALIVE AND WELL, AND THE MORE PEOPLE (who haven't experianced it) IGNORE IT, THE WORSE IT'll GET!!

hate is not the answer.

[star]

i just wanted to let everyone know that nooses were not only used for hanging black people that was ridiculous

[Stephanieinpdx]

Kiminjena, it doesn't matter how you look at this it started by some WHITE kids who thought it would be funny to hang nooses!! You are quick to point out how much trouble the black kids had been in with the law, but what about these white kids?

Racism is here and has been here, and as long as we point the finger with blame the longer it will stay. It is shame we can't recognize are differences and embrace it.

I never knew racism until I had to explain it to my 8 year old son who is mixed. 2 years ago he went to a prodomently black school and had no problems. Last year we transferred him to our neighborhood school, at the open house we only seen 1 other black family. This year he is the only black kid in his class, and he can feel the difference. The test scores are outstanding for this school, and people speak highly of it but I never seeb so many mean little white kids.

[KiminJena]

Maria,
The truck with the nooses and confederate flag did not happen in Jena. It occured in Alexandria, a town about 50 miles from here. The perpetrators were also not from Jena but from a town about 45-50 miles from here near Alexandria.

Also you will NEVER hear me deny that racisim is alive and well. Here in Jena and in your town. It's pervasive and ugly.
But I will continue to say that the Jena 6 charges were not the result of racism.

Stephanie,
My heart breaks for your son. A good friend of mine (here in Jena) is married to a black man and they have a mixed race daughter age 10. She and her husband gave an interview and in that interview stated that they had not been the target of racism here. The instances that they had been the target of racism have been in other towns in the state. I don't tell you this to paint a picture that Jena is some nirvana, I use her and her family to illustrate that Jena isn't the cauldron of hate that the rest of the world has come to believe we are.

As for the three white kids involvement with the law, that was discussed in the report the FBI did regarding the noose incident. None of them had ever been in trouble with the law prior to this incident. They were idiotic and what they did offended me, my family and friends. I know of NOONE who approved of their actions nor do I know of anyone who remotely thought it was funny.

I'd also like to address a statement made during the show. Justin Barker did not hurl racial slurs at the Jena 6 prior to his attack. The witness statements bear this out. They are available to be read at
http://www.evangelicaloutpost.com/archives/003979.html

I have said that I totally agree with the sentiment behind the march. Stopping racism is something that must be done. But the Jena 6 were not the victims of racism in this instance. They are not matyrs for the civil rights movement. They are 6 young men who brutally attacked another human being with the intent to do extreme harm to him.

How can anyone justify their actions?

[Cassandra]

Hi, this is Cassandra
I think that it's a good thing that you guys took your children on the bus with you to march for the Jena Six. Me being one of the oldest of 5 I thought that was pretty kool.
If my mom was there she would have been very mad that racisim is still going on. She thinks that everyone has the right to speak and has a right to do what ever they put their mind to. You guys are legends, if racisim was as bad as it was way back when, we wouldn't have those wonderful songs that you guys(Women) put together.
I was proud to see someone actually stepping up to show everyone that Singers/ Rappers care to!!
I wanna thank you so much for doing that even though I wasn't there! But anyway once again thank you for standing up for believeing in what's right from wrong!
Thank you Once again!,
Cassandra :0)

[James Caldwell,Jr.]

Dear Salt n Pepa,

Hello Ladies! I love ya both to death. I am glad that other Black artists are finally stepping back up the "Fight to Freedom."

I am a Gospel singer living in Germany, and My God, racism is everywhere you go. It was good to read how you´ve both grown into beautiful Mothers and being concerned what happens with your children. RESPECT! Alot of fathers need to do this too. I am a proud parent of two children, who are half German and Black. They both are now in the age where they are fighting almost everyday in school because of their skin color.

My daughter, Shantevia, who is 14. Our relationship is now going back on the positive side of things due to a bad break up from her mother. My son, Aaron bka AJ, 11 is into sports and of course being black is very talented. Alot of the other parents are always against him playing in the teams because he´s so sportly inclined. My ex-wife doesn´t understand what I am always fighting for, but slowly but surely my point is coming across in this country.

I suggest that all the Artist of the past, join together and have a REUNION to help and fight against Racism. I guarantee you if you post this idea how many Black, Hispanic, & White Musicians will support this idea. We need to look out for the safety of our children.

God bless you both and may Heaven smile upon You, God is Love.

[JerseyGirl]

Can you really rely on the accuracy of the past convictions if the law in Jena is obviously racist?

As previously stated, the point of the march wasn't to let the Jena 6 off the hook but to demand that their punishment fit the crime. If this is the way this system is run there, how do we know that the earlier charges against those boys aren't trumped up? It's very possible that the white boys have the same history of violence and just happen to have the biased law on their side.

[KiminJena]

JerseyGirl,
Since Jena is a small place I personally know many of the parties involved in this case.

I can tell you for sure that the boys who hung the noose had no previous criminal history much less a violent history. They are admittedly stupid, but unfortunately that isn't a crime.

Further, the charges against Michal Bell involved him beating a young black girl. What gain would the court system have by "trumping" up these charges?

[JerseyGirl]

I'm sure that officially the other boys have no criminal records, but if the system is indeed biased then there's a possibility that they've done things that have been overlooked simply because they're white. Criminals don't always get caught, especially if they've got friends in high places.

The point of possibly trumping up the charges would be to get a black kid in trouble. I'm not saying this is the case, but a criminal record is a very damaging thing for a teenager. It could affect which college he gets into, what scholarships he could receive (if any) and any future job offers. What's the more satisfying outcome if you're trying to get someone in trouble? Something temporary or something long-term? If they get him for something like harassment, he'd likely do some community service and then the charge would disappear once his record was expunged when he turned 18. Felony assualt, on the other hand, is a much different story.

I obviously don't know the actual situation, but what if Michael didn't hit that young girl? What if he playfully pushed her and a racist cop saw a chance to get someone he didn't like in trouble? If there were no witnesses present, it then becomes a case of he-said, she-said. And really, who is judge more likely to believe, an officer who's sworn to protect the innocent or teenager who's life could be ruined by a conviction?

Again, I'm not saying that this is how things are there, but there is obviously some kind of disconnect between how some people should be treated and how they actually are treated. Biased behavior is almost never an isolated incident, it's part of a pattern and something that's worth investigating.

[KiminJena]

JerseyGirl,

If all of the things you suggest were true, there would have been a great number of townspeople marching along with the folks who came here.

A truth you may or may not be aware of is that Bryant Purvis' involvement is in question. There are conflicting statements as to his participation. I will not be suprised if he is found not guilty.

As for the girl Mychal hit, she and her family pressed charges. It is my understanding that he didn't playfully punch her. He punched her in the face. The fact is he had had TWO convictions ajudicated in ADDITION to the assault charge for which he was on parole for until his 18 birthday. It's insane to make statements that this young man was facing trumped up charges. He was and is a criminal. I do however sincerely hope that he will use this as an opportunity to change the path his life was on. The same goes for the other young men on both sides of this event.

Jena is a small town and everyone pretty much knows everyone. I can honestly say that the boys that hung the nooses had NOT been in trouble with the law prior to the nooses. The closest thing to a brush with law enforcement they had encountered was one of them had been stopped for violating the town's noise ordinance.

I will say it again, Jena is a small town. My daughter was a classmate of all of these boys. I know one of the boys who hung the nooses, I know his mother and father. I know where he lives. I know the teachers at Jena High School. Some taught me when I was a student there. A great number were classmates of mine. I have substituted at the school on occasion. I personally know a great number of the police officers in the parish. It is rare that people don't know one another here.

In addition, my daughter was witness to the events immediately prior to the beating of Justin Barker. Members of the Jena 6 attempted to start a fight with two separate boys prior to postioning themselves against the retaining wall outside the gymnasium and waiting for an opportunity to assault someone. She missed witnessing 6 of her classmates (one who she would have considered a friend) stomp and kick 1 of her classmates lifeless body by mere seconds. She seen Justin Barker's apparently lifeless body as they put him into the ambulance.

My point is, I am not saying things that I believe to be true. I know they are true.

I think that's what most of the people here find so disturbing is the assumption that the system here is inherently racist and that by proxy so are we. The facts don't bear that out.

It is extremely frustrating for these young men's actions to be painted as a "prank" or a "schoolyard fight". Read the witness statements. Talk to people who knew all of the boys (white and black), talk to their teachers, talk to their schoolmates. These young men were not choir boys who have been the target racist cops and DAs.

[JerseyGirl]

Sorry, my thoughts are a little jumbled so I apologize if my responses don't directly correlate to your responses.

I'm not saying that what you're saying isn't true. You live there, I don't so you obviously know much more than I do on the situation. To make it clear, I'm not saying Mychal didn't hit that girl. If he was tried and convicted of that crime then I believe he did it. I'm saying that there are apparently some people within the law enforcement system that don't believe that the races are equal. It may be one, it may be twenty but it's evident that someone somewhere within the system is racist. Because of that anything that is related in any way needs to be reinvestigated. If a cop was found out to have planted evidence, evne just once, all of the previous cases he had worked on would be brought up and reviewed. In the law enforcement world, it is better to have a thousand guilty men go free than to have one innocent man convicted. I'm not saying that this is the case, but on principle alone, all previous matters concerning anyone involved in the case should be looked over again.

As for the black boys, attacking the white boys was absolutely wrong, there's not doubt about it. Save for self defense, there's no reason to put your hands on somebody else out of anger. I don't want to say anything negative about either the black or the white boys because they are mostly children and have and will do stupid thing and make mistakes; it's part of growing up. The law enforcement is a different issue. I understand their need to prosecute these boys to fullest extent of the law, it's their job and I respect them for that. But attempted murder is a very strong charge and just doesn't fit the crime. In order to prove attempted murder you need to have proof that they intended to kill him, some kind of deadly weapon and hopefully previous threats or an admission of guilt. None of this was evident and they still went ahead with the charges.

Obviously, if the black boys hadn't decided to pick a fight they wouldn't be in this situation but at the same time I guess I can see they're way of thinking. If they let something at blatantly racists as hanging nooses slide, what's going to happen next time? Doing nothing sends the message that treating people like that is acceptable. Honestly, this whole thing should have been stopped after the nooses were hung. Whether it was a prank or not, it was disgusting and unacceptable. I understand that the principal recommended expulsion but was overruled by the board of education who decided on sending the boys to an alternative school for nine days followed by in-school suspension for two weeks. While I do believe that it was strong punishment, they should have been expelled. There should be a no-tolerance policy against behavior like that, joke or not. FBI agents who investigated the incident themselves even said that it had all the markings of a hate crime. The only reason they couldn't prosecute is because federal standards for a hate crime constitute that the offenders must be adults.

My biggest problem is with the law enforcement and the way they handled it. They decided to charge 16-year-old Mychal Bell with attempted murder as an adult because of his previous record and because they believe he initiate the fight. According to this witness statements, some people said that Mychal started the fight and some say he didn't. Coach Benjy Lewis, the only adult to see the fight, stated that it wasn't Mychal who started it. The DA then dropped the charges to aggravated second degree assault. That charge has a requirement of a deadly weapon, Mychal didn't have one, so the DA argued that his SNEAKERS that he wore as he kicked the boy counted. Alright, I understand wanting to get justice for a wronged party but seriously? His sneakers? Did he specifically wear those sneakers that day just to kick somebody with them? It just seems that they went out of their way to make sure the black boy was punished but the white boys, whose actions started all of this, weren't punished at all.

The fact of the matter is that there are many black people in your town who have said that there is rampant racism there. I don't know your race and I'm not implying that if you're white you can't see injustices, but there's a world of difference between being white and seeing blatant racism and knowing that it's wrong a being black and seeing subtle racism and feeling that fear. The fact that DA didn't even try to bring charges against the boys who hung the noose is scary. The fact that the BOE didn't think that it was that serious is scary. The fact that there are people that say they've lived there 16 years and that it's always been segregated means something. I'm sure not everyone is Jena is racist, but there are enough there to make people uncomfortable and scared and something should be done about it.

That was longer than I intended it to be, sorry.

[Heather]

salt and pepa,
I think u both done a wonderful going down louisianna, I hope everything calms down and may racism become extinct. We are all equal in gods eyes. I think taking your children with u was a good learning experience as well. Keep fighting to abolish racism. god bless